The outer edges of this slightly taller than normal 15x16 puzzle are stretched even more by the inclusion of four rebus squares. THEWALLSHAVEEARS as the revealer tells us, and it's true - "Routine damage" is W[EAR]ANDT[EAR], "Cry from a town crier" is, of course, H[EAR]YEH[EAR]YE, "Open and honest conversation" is a H[EAR]TTOH[EAR]RT, and - the trickiest of the four, I think, was remembering the "Investment bank that folded in 2008" (B[EAR]ST[EAR]NS). Of course, by that time you're looking for two ears in the middle, so it wasn't really all that hard. In fact, I'd say this puzzle played on the easy side. I was just over nine minutes, but I never really felt held up anywhere.
Well, I said I didn't get hung up, but I initially entered nevER for [EAR]LIER (Not now or later), and I tried to cram "iridesce" in where OPALESCE (Shimmer with an array of colors) belonged.
Nice nod to our Canadian friends (Hi Philbo!) with "Bird on the Canadian dollar coin" (LOON). And perhaps with the "French homophone of 'haut'" (EAU).
It's nice how JANEROE and ATECROW rhyme side by side there... and what the heck is a PREGAP?
- Horace
My hand is up on the "iridesce/opalesce" front as well! I found this somewhat on the hard side, thanks partly to ignoring the theme as long as possible...
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